Saying Goodbye
by Jyoti
Summary: Before Ashley leaves Valley Glen, she makes her final goodbyes to a guy that she hasn't seen in a while. Ashley/Thomas.


**Saying Goodbye**

Ashley really didn't care where she was going at the moment. She just wanted to get out of the house. Being around her family was like a holiday, you really only do it once a year. As she waited at the bus stop she thought about everything that had been going on. More than enough attention in the house was going towards Amy and her possible marriage with Ricky. Ashley didn't really understand what the fuss was about. If Amy wanted to get married then she would, but what was the rush? And why was everyone sticking their nose in it? Everything seemed to be revolved around Amy, and her personal life and Ashley could only take so much of it.

She barely noticed that the bus was here by the screeching of the tires. She was ready to get up when she saw someone approaching that she hadn't seen a long time. Her eyes widened in shock.

It was Thomas. He still looked the same, with his blonde hair and light skin. He wore pretty much all black expect for a pair of dark blue jeans.

She couldn't believe her eyes. She hadn't seen Thomas in what felt like years. After their break up, she created distance from him. When he saw her he flashed her a toothy grin, and she couldn't help but smile back, but she still attempted to hide it as she looked back at the bus and quietly made her way in. He followed after her and noticed that there was an empty seat next to her. Of course he sat there.

Ashley didn't bother to say anything. What was there to say?

Thomas looked over at her and smiled, "Hi I'm Thomas nice to meet you."

Ashley rolled her eyes at his terrible sense of humor but played along, "I'm Ashley."

"You know I knew a girl named Ashley once."

She almost had to stop herself from laughing as she raised her eyebrows, "Oh really?"

"Yeah, the girl was crazy. She was a little on the wild side I guess you could say, but when you actually sat down and talked to her, you could tell everything about her. She was intelligent and wise, and most of all misunderstood. She was pretty hot too."

Ashley felt herself laughing for the first time in a while, "How did you meet her?"

His grin grew wider, "I met her on November 30 at this exact bus stop."

Ashley's eyes widened, "You remember our...I mean her, date?"

He chuckled, "Yeah. Which isn't a shock when you know just how much I felt for her. She was one of those girls that could make me smile and laugh all the time. Her sarcasm was refreshing somehow, then again I could just be biased. She was my girlfriend after all."

"Hmm, is that so?" Ashley mused.

He nodded, "She broke up with me at this bus stop too. Gave me a totally lame excuse."

At this Ashley smirked, "And what was that?"

"She told me our relationship was too comfortable. It lacked passion or some crazy thing like that."

Ashley laughed, "I had a lot going on back then."

He looked at her thoughtfully, "And how are things now?"

She didn't know if she wanted to go into any details about how much her life had changed since they had last talked to each other.

"I got a dog."

His eyes lit up at this, "Really?"

"Yeah. His name's Moose."

Thomas raised an eyebrow at her, "Moose?"

"Yeah well my family isn't exactly creative when it comes to names. He's a decommissioned guide dog."

"So you finally got what you wanted then." Thomas smiled.

"Yeah I guess you could say that. Moose always calms me down too, you know with all the crazy that is my family."

"How's Amy?"

Ashley almost rolled her eyes at the name, "She's great, well you know, if you asked her she'd never be great. There's always something going on in her life. I thought after she settled in with having the baby things would calm down but no, everything's still revolved around her. Her and Ricky are supposed to be getting married."

"Wait I thought she was going out with that Ben guy?"

Ashley laughed. It had certainly been a long time since Amy and Ben were together, "They broke up and then I guess Amy just fell for Ricky somehow. Now it's all about Ricky and Amy. When they're getting married, if they're getting married, where they're going for school. It's practically unbearable."

Thomas saw a bit of hurt in her eyes and sighed, "Sounds like it sucks."

She let out a bitter chuckle, "It does. Which is exactly why I'm on this bus."

"To get away from your family?"

She nodded.

"Did you even tell your parents you were gone?"

Ashley shrugged, "What was the point? My mom is with Robbie and my dad, who knows. He could be off with Kathleen right now."

Thomas looked at her with the most confused look on her face and she found herself laughing. It really had been a while since they talked to each other.

Ashley decided to catch him up briefly on everything that had happened, including her relationships. Talking with Thomas was as easy as breathing, and that's what she liked about him. She noticed that it was her turn to get off and she stood up. It was actually nice talking to Thomas, but she noticed that that wasn't ending just yet when he got off with her.

"Is this really where you needed to get off?" Ashley asked, eyeing him suspiciously. What were the odds that the two would get off at the same stop?

He smirked, "Of course. I don't just follow every pretty girl I see off buses you know."

"No actually I don't know," she teased.

"I'm actually going to this pet store up the street."

"Pet store? I thought you'd never get another pet after...Sammie," she muttered his name softly, knowing how much Thomas cared about Sammie.

Thomas used to have a dog named Sammie. He latched onto the pet quickly but Sammie died shortly before he met Ashley.

"I decided to get some courage and get another dog. This ones a pit bull. I named him Tiger."

Ashley laughed, "Tiger? And you wanted to say something about me naming my dog Moose." She rolled her eyes and he laughed as they walked over to the pet store.

They talked some more and Ashley asked him a few questions about his life.

"Any girls?"

He smirked, "Why? Would that be a concern to you?"

She rolled her eyes though a smile was forming on her face, "Of course not."

He laughed, "Mhm. And yes, a few, none that I could ever really find myself being with though. I'm single for the time being. And you? Didn't you say something about some Tom guy?"

"It's Toby, and yeah. We practically traveled the world together, but we broke up." Ashley felt herself getting a little sad about this. She didn't think that Toby would be in her life forever, but she thought that they would last longer than they did. They spent so much time together, and they became best friends. They even had sex but Ashley knew from seeing everyone around her that sex wouldn't keep a guy. She just wanted the experience.

"Why did you guys break up?" Thomas asked as he looked around for pet toys.

"He didn't want to leave with me," she answered.

"Leave with you?" He stopped looking at toys for a second and then he looked at Ashley.

"Right I guess I should mention that...I'm leaving pretty soon. I got accepted into a culinary school in Italy. I have enough money to go and so I'm taking the opportunity."

Thomas was surprised to say the least, and a tiny part of him was hurt even though he knew he shouldn't have been, "Oh..."

"Yeah..."

There was silence for a while and then Ashley started talking again.

"Toby practically told me that I need to stop running away."

"Well is he right?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean...are you running away from your family? I know things with them are hard so are you just doing this so that you can get away from everything?"

Ashley had to admit that that was part of the reason, but it wasn't all of it, "I just want a new start. I want to be...happy, and live my own life, and that's something that I can't do here. I'm tired of being surrounded by all of Amy's drama. It's not like I'm doing this for attention, it wouldn't get me any anyway. My parents aren't going to try to stop me, they don't care."

"Ashley-"

"I know what you're going to say Thomas, but they don't ok? If they cared they would have talked to me about my decision the minute I told them that I was leaving. But they let me go..."

Thomas could understand where she was coming from, even if he didn't want her to leave, "So this is the last time we'll see each other?"

"Yeah...I guess so." She noticed the look on his face and then she joked to lighten the mood, "But every holiday I'll swing by our bus stop ok?"

He laughed at this and nodded, "I'm holding you to that."

Once Thomas was done purchasing his item, they made their way back to the bus stop and as they waited for the bus they started talking again.

"Ashley...before you leave can you promise me something?"

"Yeah I guess...What is it?"

"Promise me that you'll talk to your parents and your sister before you leave. If you leave feeling resentment towards them, you're not going to be happy. Just promise me that you'll try to resolve your issues with them."

"That's a tough thing to promise...But ok."

The bus pulled up and Ashley knew that this was it. She looked at Thomas for a second, unsure of what to say, and then he kissed her, a quick chaste kiss that should have lacked all the passion in the world but didn't. A simple kiss that created little butterflies in her stomach and made her smile. And she knew that this was their final goodbye.

**A/N: **Just another random story. I love Thomas/Ashley Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.


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